First view of the castle

Here is one of the first views that you will see after you get off of that vertical train. (I should have taken a picture of the inside of it as you go up stairs in the train!) As you walk along you finally realize that you are way up on the mountain side.

This bridge is on just about every Heidelberg postcard out there. It is really amazing seeing it in person after seeing it on postcards!!

Here you can see part of the castle ruins.

The figures built into the side of the walls are simply amazing.

This is where they were doing some reconstruction.

Is this not amazing? Just look at the different sections and how old the stone looks. Plus the (what would you call it?) carved stone banister, oh the time that it took to do all of that work!

The next few pictures show how far down it goes

Look at the house which was pretty big just by itself with the connecting bridge to the castle, perhaps a gatekeeper?

You can really see how thick these walls are here.

So are you impressed? Just these few pictures would make you think....this is a really big castle. But wait! This is only a teeny tiny section of it! I'll have more in another post which is even more impressive and really makes you wonder....how in the world did they heat the thing!!!!

Part one of Heidelberg pictures

Is there nothing so frustrating as when your computer gives you trouble?! I'm not a computer geek at all, so when something goes wrong I usually call the next door neighbor kid (although he is in college now!). So I was quite proud of myself when I fixed the problem on my own! I have been thinking about a laptop, hubby has been bugging me to get one for a long time, and I actually looked at some yesterday during the "black Friday" day. Nothing yet, but that's ok.
As I was looking back through old posts I realized that I never did show all of my Heidelberg pictures and the castle. So for the next few posts I thought that I would share some of them with you.
From Mannheim we took one of the local trains, and saw a lot of gorgeous countryside.

As you can see there are a ton of shops everywhere!! I did look through quite a few of them as I was looking for some boots to bring back home.....gotta have those boots!

As you know I can not pass a flower shop without taking pictures especially the European flower markets!

Crystal knew a few short cuts so we took the alleyways. I think that they made lovely pictures.

The colors on these walls really made this picture stand out. I like the honey brown yellow on the left wall side and then the ivory walls with the pink trim and the blue shutters on the other.

We decided to take the train to the castle which was really a vertical ride up. No need in getting our muscles super sore our first exploring day! Sounds like a good excuse to me!

My next post will be of the castle which is absolutely fascinating!!

Thanks for the memories

Today is my daughter's favorite holiday, and mine too. It is a day to enjoy time with family and friends, a day to be thankful for many things in our lives as each day should be. I remember Thanksgivings from childhood, and they do bring back many, many memories. There are a lot of things to be thankful for even though some days we wonder how we will make it through the day. A few weeks back I found this..

I think that it is something that at times we all need to apply to ourselves when we wonder what we have to be thankful for during these very uneasy days.
For me I am thankful for my health although at this age I wonder with all my aches and pains!!! I am thankful for my immediate family here and all across the world, and I am thankful for meeting so many new friends everywhere.
So no matter where you live or whether you share our thanksgiving day or not, thank you for being here, for all your comments that keep us smiling, and your blogs that share a part of your special world.
Happy "Turkey" Thanksgiving Day!!!!

Long week

I just now am able to get back to my computer. My dad was unwell so I have had him here to help give my mom a break, and then I have had a ton of company too! Things are back on the mend now. My aunt (my dad's sister) worked from my computer so it was more important for her to do that and be here with us helping out. We have had a house full here, and I think my dishwasher has been going non stop!
Isn't it nice for family to be around when you need them?!
So now since everything is real quiet I am going to do something I normally don't do...take a nap .........and eat a piece of brownie I hid from myself!!!!!

Have you ever had a chocolate day?

Have you ever had a chocolate day? When it was so rainy the other day, and I made a trip to the grocery store, they had the buy one, get one free. Ok, so I see a few things that would be cheaper, but not this one, well, it was, yet I could have done without!! Brownies, yum! I try to avoid such things in the house since we don't have little ones running around, unless you count hubby and his love for cookies!!! He's not real crazy about chocolate things, good, more for me.
See....... I can't believe I ate most of that! I finally had to put the rest in a seal a meal bag.

So then I thought I better keep moving around and burn off all these extra calories. So I ironed.

Then I looked up. Whoa! Now I dust these things every week, but I am late on fall cleaning. I wonder how many calories I can burn up here?

So, what's next. Hmmmmm, Oh! My daughter just called and wants me to watch a movie with her. Hey, brownies and a cup of tea would be good!!

Rainy day project

Since Hurricane Ida is raining down buckets on us today, and of course, I waited until today to go to the grocery store and run some errands therefore I look like, well, let's just say it is not a good hair day!! So I really wasn't much in a mood to do too much inside except maybe drink a cup of tea and read a good book.
Then I remembered these candle holders that my daughter and I had bought on clearance for $4! Kind of blah looking now.

So I jazzed it up a bit with paint

They don't look too bad now!

I realized seeing this picture how it matches the colors of the leaves outside! Well, guess you know I do like fall!!

I should have bought more of them....they would have made great gifts!

A great find!

I have had this great find since early summer when hubby and I hit a subdivision yard sale not too far from us. I was looking for something such as a bookcase to store some of my craft items and such in. We came across this one young couple who had something, and believe it or not we actually left it and came back again. Painted black I wasn't too sure if I wanted it, but decided to ask the price anyway.
Outside was this piece and another one that looks similar, but no glass doors. They wanted $75 the first time. When I came back I asked if they would take $55, I know, I know, my hubby's mom taught me how to bargain!!! So the young lady asked her husband and he said they would take $60. That doesn't sound too bad. I told her ok $60 was good. (Now remember it was this piece below and another matching one)

Then she asked if I wanted another piece to the set. I asked her how much and she said nothing, they would give it away with the other two. So I was a little reluctant not knowing what it was until I went in the house and saw the armoire!!! SOLD!!!! Yes!!! I'll take it!! Are you sure? Yes, they were sure. They were tired of moving it since it was so heavy.

I could not believe that I got all three solid wood pieces for $60 bucks!! Of course we had to borrow the neighbor's truck, but hey, I made breakfast so he was happy! So now I need to decide what color to paint it. The black is ok, but it does have a black hole effect in some of the rooms. Most of my furniture is oak. Any ideas out there? I was thinking maybe a grey too, but who knows? They have been around for a while, but hopefully I'll decide before next year!!

The little red wagon and me

There she is waiting just for me.

I have my garden boots on and shovels ready.

What a beautiful butterfly that is enjoying the last of the flowers....it has come to join me

Well, come along....there are 15 bulbs per package so we better get busy

Can't wait to see next spring!!

Last colors around the house

Yesterday among the other 101 things I went outside to snap some pictures. The weatherman is forecasting some frost these next few days, and also by the end of next week the leaf color for our area should be gone. I love the fall time, but I don't like seeing all the beautiful colors go by so quickly!!

With the frost I'm sure all of the late blooming flowers will be gone too. So I guess I better get busy with all of the spring bulbs that I need to plant! Oh, and with fall comes the raking of leaves, and believe me, there are a lot of leaves. This year though there will be plenty of compost bins for them, I don't know about where you live, but dirt has gone up here!! Hope you enjoyed the last of the colors here!

Drive continues, TN, NC, & back to GA

Now we are heading north in Tennessee to catch highway 64. This highway if you stay on it will actually take you all the way to the coast of North Carolina, the Outer Banks to be specific.

It was close to lunch time and we saw all of the Tennessee license plates pulling into this little place called Dam Deli Delight (I believe). We seated ourselves at the table where I took this next picture. Look at the bears carved out of wood, are they not cute? Someone put a scarf around them too.

Here is a carved Indian, another little bear, and this cute wood stove. I'd really like to have that stove!!!

Now for some good country food!!! I had the pot roast, sweet potato casserole (I know it doesn't look that appealing, but it is good!), and my favorite..fried okra. Hubby had a country fried steak that took up over half the plate (we took some home and had another meal from it!), mashed potatoes and gravy, and yes, fried okra. I guess that is a southern thing. But yum-oh was it good!!! Of course hubby even though he was starving waited patiently while I took the picture!

The mountains ahead waiting for us.

Here is a quick out of the window shot of the Ocoee River

This is one of 3 dams along the Ocoee River. According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia the Ocoee River and the Toccoa River (Toccoa is not far from here) run as one single river flowing northwestward through the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It is known as the Toccoa River in Georgia until it comes to McCaysville, GA and Copperhill, TN. Then it is called the Ocoee River.

Here is the topside of the big dam.

One of the smaller ones. At this one we saw a lot of people kayaking. This river is a popular one for whitewater rafting and was also used for hosting the whitewater slalom during the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta.

With all the rain the river was running pretty swift. Although I think it would be too cold for me to go out in it!

I liked the tree in this picture, and if you click on it you can see the flume on the mountainside which they use to direct water to the power plant. One thing I found interesting was how all of this was built around 1913!

The North Carolina portion of Highway 64 and its' countryside.

Fall harvest scene of a courthouse in Georgia.

Climbing higher up into the mountains in Georgia. This was on route 129 and it goes way up into the mountains with sheer drop offs on the side. It really was very pretty, and not too busy with leaf lookers!

Sitting back in my seat with the sunroof open watching all the different colors go flashing by. I snapped this one which turned out pretty good. I love the color of this tree.

So there you have it. A day trip through 3 states. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!